Dear Donors,
As you tour campus this week, you will see us students streaming out of classrooms all morning and afternoon, bustling past you on our way to class, work, meetings, and practice. We may be more rumpled and less cheerful than you expected. It’s midterm season at Hillsdale College and we have games, recitations, lectures, papers, performances, exams, and so on to which we must attend.
But one thing remains true. We are thankful for you.
This crazy time of year is what we signed up for when we applied to Hillsdale College. The stress comes from midterms and exams with some of the best professors in their respective fields; we rush from place to place because we have good events to attend and worthy organizations to be a part of.
None of that would be possible without all of you.
The mission and principles of the college we so love are worthy things to support. Without you, we wouldn’t be attending a college characterized first and foremost by freedom. We see the state of higher education via our peers who attend government-funded schools that don’t even pretend to aspire to Hillsdale’s higher values.
The scene is pretty grim out there for most students. But here, we can invest ourselves in studying the topics, such as Latin, Victorian poetics, and The Federalist Papers, so often decried as “useless.” Thanks for making it possible for us to continue the dialogue between the great thinkers and ideas of the Western and American heritages.
You donate because you are of such a character as to love what we love. Thank you for recognizing the worth in the Hillsdale mission and trusting us to steward well the gifts you give us.
Remember also that you are not just supporting ideas, true and beautiful as they may be. Your generosity benefits our personal growth, careers, and future families. By investing in us, you’re investing in generations of men and women who will make up the country we all love.
Every news report makes it more obvious that our culture needs help. But policies and rhetoric will only go so far. This nation needs a generation committed to the permanent things, and you enable us to accept that commitment. Thanks for partnering with us in this effort.
And as recipients of this gift, we have a certain responsibility to pass it on. The weight of the tradition we have inherited obligates us to disseminate it widely and deeply. As William Wordsworth wrote, “…What we have loved, / Others will love, and we will teach them how; / Instruct them how the mind of man becomes / A thousand times more beautiful than the earth / On which he dwells…”
Sincerely,
Your Students
